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Saturday, 31 December 2011

During our break I have found some nice blogs and websites with beneficial resources. Insha Allaah I will share few of them here for all of you to benefit as well! Again a word of caution, please avoid using resources that go against Islaam.

This is a wonderful blog and you get some work done by a dear sister Madeehah with the checking of our brother Abu Talha Dawud Burbank raheemahullaah. Insha Allaah the sister will continue to put out more resources by getting to check her work by another student of ilm bi idhnillaah!

This is such a wonderful blog by our brother Aboo Abdir Rahmaan Nasser ibn Najam Alvi from Birmingham. May Allaah preserve the brother. To know more about him please click here and read the comments Insha Allaah!. This is such a great place to get some authentic resources to teach our kids Aqeedah also to teach ourselves. I am so happy I found this site and I ask Allaah to reward this brother immensely and aid him to put out more resources for us. Aameen.

This site has many worksheets, resources and teaching ideas for Literacy, Maths, ICT, Science, Geography and many more for different age groups all for free. Makes things easier masha Allaah, you do not have to spend time cracking your brains what to do or find ideas and worksheets.

This is a beautiful blog of sis Umm Khadeejah who is a homeschooler and I really love all her activities. She has shared her homeschooling journey with her 5 and 3 year old daughters. Masha Allaah you will get plenty of ideas there.

I really really love this sister's Home Schooling approach with both her girls. I love the fact that her imparting learning is serious and in depth covering concepts using living books. I love her kids masha Allaah. Also check out her site and she has listed many many websites and links for absolutely free resources that could be found on the web.

Friday, 30 December 2011

This is a nice reminder masha Allaah, thought I will share. Originally posted today here

Khutbah by Shaykh Saalih/Aal Ash-Shaykh hafidhahullaah!

O believers in Allaah and His messenger! Fear Allaah and glorify Him as He deserves to be. Know that this life is nothing except a very short period of time, so act righteously herein. He who does so will have a great and pleasant consequence by the mercy and favour of Allaah and he who is neither conscious nor fearful of Allaah will not have a way out of his hardships and will have an evil end.

Servants of Allaah! Abu Hurayrah, May Allaah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophetsallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “No contagion, no pessimism, no Haammah and no Safar” (Bukhaari). The meaning of this Hadeeth is as follows:Haammah is a type of bird; the pre-Islamic Arabs used to think that whenever this bird landed on anyone’s house, somebody who lived in that house would definitely die. This is of course a type of superstition. As for Safar, this is another type of superstition; one group of Islamic scholars held the view that the pre-Islamic Arabs were highly superstitious regarding the month of Safar while another group held the view that Safar is in fact a worm which used to dwell in the bodies of some animals (as a disease) and that this disease was contagious.

In this Hadeeth the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam negated and refuted the prevalent belief of the disbelievers at that time. These false beliefs would affect the hearts of the people so greatly that it would weaken their reliance on Allaah and lead them to doubting Him and even attributing evil to Him. Also, these beliefs would lead people to attribute deficiencies to Allaah, either by them claiming that He has incapabilities or by them ascribing partners to Him in acts of worship, or in controlling destiny.

So the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam was addressing all those who truly believe in Allaah and in His control over everything by saying: “No contagion, no pessimism, no Haammah and no Safar.” The words “No contagion” mean that contagion is not independently effective, because the Pre-Islamic Arabs used to believe that contagion was itself a characteristic of a disease and that it had no external control over it. They also believed that there was nothing that could prevent contagion from occurring and that nothing could eliminate it.

When the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said “No contagion.” he certainly did not mean that contagion itself does not exist, nor did he mean that diseases and sicknesses do not spread from one person to another due to them coming into close contact, rather, this is something that obviously occurs. However, what the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam was doing was refuting the belief that the disbelievers had which was that if a sick person happened to come close enough to a healthy person, then sickness would definitely be passed onto the healthy person. The disbelievers used to believe that this transfer was beyond the control and will of Allaah and that it was bound to happen. Therefore, what the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam was explaining was that sickness does not spread simply by mixing healthy people with sick ones, rather, it happens with the decree and command of Allaah; contagion may or may not occur because it is not necessarily the case that every contagious disease will spread from a sick person to a healthy one unless and until Allaah permits this to occur. If Allaah does not permit it to happen then it cannot and will not ever occur, because that is by the decree and command of Allaah.

Contagion is nothing but a means that will only have an effect if Allaah decrees for it to occur, it is not something that necessarily takes place. Abu Hurayrah, may Allaah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “A sick one should not go into the presence of a healthy one, nor should a healthy one go into the presence of a sick one.” (Muslim). He sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said this regarding camels because allowing them to mix is a means of spreading disease among them. Therefore, in this Hadeeth, the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam proves that contagion actually exists, but he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam only proved its existence as a means and not as an end.

This is exactly the same as saying, for example, that if a person were to do something that could result in his death, then by doing it, he would die – if Allaah decreed that to happen. It is also the same as saying, for example, that if a person were to eat and drink then he would satisfy his hunger and quench his thirst. In reality, these actions are nothing but means to an end that will only occur if Allaah has decreed it to do so.

Abu Hurayrah, may Allaah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “Run away from a person with leprosy as you would run away from a lion.” (Ahmad & Bukhaari). This is because mixing with such a person is a means of spreading the sickness from a person with leprosy to a healthy one. So this Hadeeth of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam explains that although these are nothing but means and that their effect will not take place without the decree of Allaah, we still have to exert our utmost efforts in avoiding these means that may result in disease, destruction or tribulations. Moreover, we must rely on Allaah in all cases.

This is why on one occasion the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam sat next to a man who had leprosy and ate with him from the same plate, he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam even put his hand in the same food that the man was eating from to prove to people that diseases spread only if Allaah wills for them to do so. He sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam also did this to show that it is not a must that contagious sicknesses will spread and that it is only Allaah who gives the ability for these means to take effect. Then, after eating, he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “No contagion and no pessimism.”

He sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said: “No pessimism” because during Jaahiliyyah, or the pre-Islamic period of ignorance, the disbelievers were extremely pessimistic about everything.Ibn Mas’ood, may Allaah be pleased with him, said that “Each one of us had this (i.e., pessimism), but Allaah replaced it with our reliance on Him.”(Abu Daawood & Tirmidhi). This saying means that at that time, the people’s hearts were full of pessimism. For example, people used to feel pessimism when they felt the wind blowing strongly, or if some of them intended to set out on a journey and subsequently saw something that they disliked, they would be sure that they would meet a calamity or even death during the forthcoming trip, so they would be overcome by pessimism.

However, a believer must completely rely on Allaah as Ibn Mas’ood, may Allaah be pleased with him, said: “Allaah replaces pessimism with reliance on Him.” Pessimism is a false and futile concept; it has no effect in determining events because they are all under the control and decree of Allaah. This is why the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam used to hate pessimism and love optimism; for one who is always optimistic has a high opinion of his Lord, which the believer is commanded to have. As for pessimism, this leads a person into thinking evil of his Lord, which was the belief of the people during Jahiliyyah. Due to these reasons, the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam forbade us from being pessimistic by saying: “No pessimism.”

Then, he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said “No Haammah” which refers to the bird already mentioned which the disbelievers had false beliefs about. For example, they believed that a person who was murdered would have this bird in his grave screaming for revenge. They also thought that the Haammah bird contained the soul of a dead person and flew it between different neighbourhoods. There were countless other false beliefs which were prevalent at that time, so the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam had to refute and negate them because these beliefs were contrary to the sound creed that a Muslim is commanded to have. The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam clarified the concept that everything occurs due to the decree and command of Allaah and nothing else.

Another falsehood which the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam wanted to eliminate from its roots was regarding the month of Safar. Many scholars are of the view that Safar was a month in which the pre-Islamic Arabs were particularly pessimistic. Therefore, when the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said, “No Safar”, this was an indication that he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam wanted to refute and negate all the false beliefs that the disbelievers used to harbour regarding that month. The disbelievers used to think that during the month of Safar, all problems, disasters, calamities and other evils would occur. Therefore they would avoid getting married in this month as they thought that such a union would be doomed; nobody would trade during this month as they thought that it would be fruitless; they also thought that all other endeavours during that month would end in problems, hardships and even death. These are the types of beliefs that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam countered due to their falsity.

Safar is just one of twelve months that Allaah has given us; nothing happens in this month except what Allaah has decreed to happen within it, Allaah did not specify a certain month of the year where all difficulties, hardships and calamities would afflict people. In fact, if one looks at history, he will discover that many conquests and victories occurred during the month of Safarfor the Muslims; it may be that some people are ignorant of this and therefore it becomes incumbent on us to pay attention to facts like these and convey them to the masses. By doing this we are going back to the fundamentals and bases of these false concepts and cutting them off from their roots. Therefore, in this particular case, we know that believing that Safar as an ‘unlucky’ month is a false and frivolous belief, both from the words of the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam and by practical experience of the fact that there has been a lot of goodness in this month throughout history. Therefore, all forms of pessimism regarding minutes, hours, days and months are negated by Islaam - our faith must be sound and distinct from that of the disbelievers.

The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam exerted all possible efforts in explaining these concepts to us. He sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam made it clear that we need to purify our hearts from thinking evil of our Lord or being pessimistic regarding places, times or dates. For example, we must refute and negate the belief that some have which is to think that Wednesday is a day on which all evil takes place, so they avoid doing certain things on that day.

Dear believers! We must pay close attention to such matters, our belief must be sound and correct, and we must not allow our hearts and minds to be invaded by such falsities. We must not be pessimistic regarding specific times and places because the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam forbade us from doing this. Also, it goes against the sound belief that we are required as Muslims to possess. I ask Allaah to guide me and you all and to make us among those who always think highly of their Lord.

Also, we must know that favours and bounties cannot be attained except by being obedient to Allaah and that hardship, calamities and problems can be reduced if not terminated by supplicating to Allaah or by being obedient to Him. Therefore, whoever relies on Allaah, He is sufficient for him. Allaah says that which translates as: “…And whoever fears Allaah – He will make for him of his matter ease.” (At-Talaaq: 4). Nothing can avert the decree and command of Allaah except supplication. Destruction and calamities cannot be stopped except through obedience to Allaah. I ask Allaah to make me and you all among those whom He has mercy upon. Allaah says that which translates as: “By time, Indeed mankind is in loss, Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.” (Al-Asr: 1-3).

Monday, 26 December 2011

Features of the Prophet - We read the "Sealed Nectar" and wrote some of the features of the Prophet on the book using stencils and gel pens. Maimoonah drew the shapes and I wrote while she read to me.

Manners and Characteristics of the Prophet We did the same for the Manners and characteristics as well. We discussed a lot about how we should try to imitate him. And I explained how many people became Muslims seeing the good manners of the Messenger of Allaah sallaahu alaihiwasallam.

English Language

Jolly Phonics - She learnt the following letter sounds

Grammar - We did about Articles.

Comprehension - We used the Junior English Book 1 and did this comprehension. She had read and say if the statements below were true or false.

Social Studies

Continent - North America and
North American Contries - We read about North America in the Encyclopaedia. We read about some north American countries and she choose a few to do in detail. She wanted to study about USA as she said Umm Sara and Umm Suhailah live there : ) and she also wanted to know about Canada because of Aunty Umm An Nu'man!!. So this is what she did.

Maths

We did not start Year 1 MEP this week as we are going on a break I thought I will start when we come back Insha Allaah! So instead we did some additions with more numbers.

Arabic

We used the Smart Ark Arabic Book which we got as a Give Away gift from A Muslim Child is Born. She started using this some months ago. She wanted to do it this week.

Then we also read this Arabic Book. A story about an intelligent Rabbit.

Alhamdulillaah we have finished another 6 weeks of work and time for another break Insha Allaah. Maimoonah is doing well with the Hifdhl masha Allaah and we will be doing more Qur'aan during the break and will be going out doors in the mornings to get play in the sun Insha Allaah. I was initially thinking of a 1 week break but I guess we would have 2 weeks Insha Allaah!

Wednesday, 21 December 2011

Since we started learning Seerah, Maimoonah is really in love with our Messenger of Allaah sallaahu alaihi wasallam. She just loves to learn about him, read about him and I keep reminding her the best way to love him is to obey him and follow him Insha Allaah!

So with this she started something on her own. Abi gave her some papers that he does not need. This whole project has no interference from me at all and solely done by her from A- Z. And I am really proud of her masha Allaah on this initiation.

She took the papers, folded them used the stapler and made a kind of a book. Then she wrote "The Story of Muhammad (sallaahu alaihiwasallam)". Then every day she spent time either copy-writing certain sentences from the books that we use to study seerah, or adding her own sentences. She used stencils, gel pens, colour pencils, crayons, glue, finger paints, felt pens and did all what she wanted to do. And she will spend a long time masha Allaah and every day she would go through this book, show us, read to us, and enjoys showing us what she has done. While writing when she remembers the letter sounds from Jolly phonics and some grammar rules she would talk about it and talk about the events from the life of the Prophet. Here are some pics.

I could gauge a lot of things from this Project! I noticed that she has understood how to form a sentence. That it starts with a Capital letter and ends with a full stop. She has understood how to present something. She has learnt how to make words using letter sounds. How to decorate a page. How to make it attractive. And I also got a chance to correct her on something very important, Alhamdulillaah she expressed her love for the Messenger of Allaah saying "O! Muhammad (sallaahu alaihiwasallaam) I love you" (she has written this and pasted on her book). Then she showed it to her Abi and we explained to her that we do not say like this as he is not alive and since he is dead , dead people cannot hear. And we only say that We love our messenger. Then she explained to me that she saw in the book something similar. Then I explained to her that usually it will be written with inverted commas since its a story and this is how it is narrated and in real life we do not say like this. Then she said "Ok, I will meet him in Jannah and hug him and say "I love you", Insha Allaah" .

Also I knew where she would need help so that she can improve her language such as leaving space, formation of certain letters and so on.

So Masha Allaah this is indeed a blessing from Allaah and giving children to do things independently is indeed a great learning experience for them as well as for us. It need not be anything formal, as children are indeed quick learners and this is a real nihmah of home schooling!

(All the links provided above can be used for the whole of
the continents and nations study Insha Allah and these links will be repeated
in the next few weeks till we finish the Continents and Nations study Insha
Allaah)

Monday, 19 December 2011

Seerah - We learnt the names of the Family Members of the Prophet sallaahu alaihiwasallam. We recorded some names and we made a tree using construction paper and Maimoonah used her stencils and together we made this tree to keep in mind all the names. This was a nice art activity too. Insha Allaah we will continue learning the family members this week too!

We did not do Fiqh this week, Insha Allaah next week we will learn more about Salaah!

English Language

Jolly Phonics - She learnt 2 more letter sounds

Grammar - We learnt Compound Words. We have completed the first 10 books of the Little Grammar Books masha Allaah! 20 more to go!

Comprehension - We did a passage from Junior English this week. I have brought this book for next year, but now I feel she can complete it this year as it is same as the Little Grammar books we are using but the letters are small. So I am thinking of including this book for grammar and comprehension Insha Allaah so that I can get a higher level next year for her! I copied the questions on another paper and she wrote the answers!

Reading and Writing - This week she went back to her Noddy lol! Suddenly she wanted to read all the Noddy books and every day she read a book to her Abi. Taking the opportunity after she read the book I asked her to write something about Noddy saying I will give her a sticker of Noddy to paste after she completes. She got all excited and wrote this very much independently!

This is what it says
"Noddy is a boy
Noddy lives in Toy Town.
He drives in a car.
Noddy is good.
Noddy loves to eat caramel Treat."

Social Studies

Asian Continent and some Asian Countries. This time she wanted to learn more about each country unlike what we did for Africa. So I printed out flags of few countries that she wanted to learn about and included the capital, currency, language and head of state. I had a nice World Fact Book and we read about each country she chose. And she could read the instructions on the flag and colour them accordingly without any help! I told her to colour the letters and keep while I prayed but when I finished praying she has coloured all the flags too, for a moment I thought she has just randomly coloured. Masha Allaah no she said I read and coloured accordingly and that is what she had done! She filled in all the details about each country asking me the spellings where necessary. I think this is a good project which is very much comprehensive for lot of learning.

She wanted to paste the one Saudi riyal which was part of the gift given to her by a Mutawwah at the Haram

Maths

MEP - Alhamdulillaah we have completed MEP reception year.

This week I tought her some easy equations . Now she got the idea that 10 + 2 = 12 and 20 + 2 = 22 and so on. When I first asked her to write the answer for the equations she wrote like this even though she knew the answer verbally.

Then when I asked her to look at the number chart how they are written she understood and re wrote the answers correctly!

Arabic - We did not do anything new continued with Sun letters and Moon Letters

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